Murdoch

[Pondo]

Great bikes guys! These frames have a ton of style. I really like the swoopy stays on these. Looking forward to seeing how mine rides. I think my Roadmaster has a CWC frame and it rides pretty nice. It's hanging in the garage, I rotated the pic for easier viewing. I need to dig it and my Heavy Duti out and go for a spin.

 

[Pondo]

I think you have one of the frames that wasn't made to use a collar to tighten the seat post. The seat post tightened up like a handlebar post, with a bolt and wedge. A collar won't work, as it needs a slot in the frame that can be squeezed together. You may have to modify your seat post with a long bolt and wedge.
View attachment 212056

You're right. I had actually noticed that before but it didn't really register. Instead of making a quill style seat post for this one I think I might just slot the frame and use a collar. It's very much not a pristine frame anyways.

 

[Wildcat]

Great bikes guys! These frames have a ton of style. I really like the swoopy stays on these. Looking forward to seeing how mine rides. I think my Roadmaster has a CWC frame and it rides pretty nice. It's hanging in the garage, I rotated the pic for easier viewing. I need to dig it and my Heavy Duti out and go for a spin.
View attachment 212075

CWC for sure.

 

[Pondo]

Got a little done on the klunk today. The cranks showed up.

I think these forks fit the build a little better.

 

[Pondo]

I added a few touches of spray paint this morning. After it set up a little I tossed the fork halves down the driveway, chunked them out in the dirt and made sure to scrape the usual high wear areas real good. Then I went to work with some 150 grit to knock off any sheen and show some of the other colors through. The front tubes were too shiny so I sanded them too and hit them with some teak wood stain. Also the white showning through on the rear tubes and the bare metal on the frame from my repair work. The original rust on the fork tubes and chrome is looking good and overall I think it blends with the survivor motif better. This is my first attempt at faux-tina and I think it came out alright.

I also found a better bolt and nut with square heads that work well here.

I'm liking the way it turned out. If I ever come across a set of the JC Higgins springer forks I like I'll put them on.

Now I need to spread the frame, put some bearings in this thing and start figuring the rest out. For sure there won't be any pink rims or blue anodized anything on the finished build.

 

[Pondo]

I think these SR cranks I got are junk. The tapers, from what I've read, are supposed to be standard JIS. But they are way too big for any of my bottom brackets, which are all standard. I think they may have been run on an ISO bottom bracket and cranked on hard enough to spread the tapers. Unless there's a bottom bracket with larger tapers that I'm unaware of? Any ideas?

 

[MattiThundrrr]

St Sheldon to the rescue
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/bbtaper.htmlShould be JIS...

"This was particularly an issue when using J.I.S. cranks on ISO spindles, because over time, as the crank went on farther and farther, you could run out of taper, and the square end of the spindle would become flush with the surface the crank fixing bolt/washer pushed against. At that point, further tightening of the bolt won't make the crank any tighter, since the bolt is bumping onto the end of the spindle"

 

[Pondo]

St Sheldon to the rescue
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/bbtaper.htmlShould be JIS...

"This was particularly an issue when using J.I.S. cranks on ISO spindles, because over time, as the crank went on farther and farther, you could run out of taper, and the square end of the spindle would become flush with the surface the crank fixing bolt/washer pushed against. At that point, further tightening of the bolt won't make the crank any tighter, since the bolt is bumping onto the end of the spindle"

Thanks Matti. Yeah, Sheldon is great for this kind of stuff. I think this is probably what happened to these cranks. It's weird that the tapers are beat out since the chain ring teeth show hardly any wear. I may come across a bottom bracket that fits these cranks eventually. For now I think I'm going to go 1x on this bike and use a 1 piece crank. I'll still run gears on the back though.

 

[Pondo]

I spread the frame to fit a later hub. I think the rear wheel I'm using must be '80s as the OLD measures 127mm rather than the 135 that's common now.

Then I spent a couple of hours swapping out the gears on the rear wheel

I got the aluminum dork disc off a 27" 10 speed wheel. That freewheel removed just fine with a 2 prong SunTour freewheel remover. I have another 27" wheel with a 6 speed freewheel that had a 34 tooth cog that I wanted for this bike for a good climbing gear. It's a Shimano 600 freewheel that requires a different 2 prong freewheel tool with narrower prongs. I filed down my SunTour tool to fit and used the method in this video to remove the freewheel:

It worked great and I didn't have to track down the Dura-Ace freewheel remover that's hard to find and can be expensive. Cleaned and greased the bearings and good to go.

After that I spent some time trying to make those cranks work. I'm going to run a Shelby crank and chainring now; that's what was on the bike I'm loosely emulating. I'm having trouble finding a headset that's compatible with both the frame and the modern Schwinn springer but I've got a remedy for that on the way.

 

[Pondo]

I didn't do a lot on this project today. I did try to paint a whitewall tire to make it usable to for this project.

The sidewalls are pretty cracked so I think the cracks will show white when the tire is inflated. It's probably new tire time.

 

[yoothgeye]

I wish I was starting with a frame like yours for my build.

 

[Pondo]

I wish I was starting with a frame like yours for my build.

I don't know, I think your JC Higgins is really cool!

 

[yoothgeye]

I don't know, I think your JC Higgins is really cool!

I just feel like the straight bar is a stronger design.

 

[Pondo]

I just feel like the straight bar is a stronger design.

That's possible. From everything I've read, the early klunker folks had trouble with most of the old cruiser frames breaking. The ones that held up the best were Schwinns from the mid 30s to the early 40s. I think it depended on rider weight and riding style in addition to how bad the terrain was, etc. If I had one I'd probably be doing this particular build on an early '60s Schwinn cantilever frame, also not one of the strongest. I figure if I break this frame I'll either weld it and reinforce it or rebuild on a different one.

 

[Pondo]

Does anyone happen to know what saddle this is?

It's on the first bike in this image. I'd like to try to find one for this build.

 

[CRASH]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3344336174...vHB14v8EYwBg8bIs79VBOE2Onp|tkp:Bk9SR4yp0oH5YA

 

[CRASH]

You can find similar saddles. I searched for "Leather spring bicycle saddle" and came up with lots of options.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1142569153...zuNKImdCGYYl37N/pM91wusA==|tkp:Bk9SR6rB2YH5YA

 

[Pondo]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3344336174...vHB14v8EYwBg8bIs79VBOE2Onp|tkp:Bk9SR4yp0oH5YA

This one would look great on my TOC

It's a little out of my price range though. The current seat is an antique French saddle of unknown manufacturer.

 

[Pondo]

You can find similar saddles. I searched for "Leather spring bicycle saddle" and came up with lots of options.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1142569153...zuNKImdCGYYl37N/pM91wusA==|tkp:Bk9SR6rB2YH5YA

I think I'm going to get one of these and try to 'antique' it for my 'Woodsy Bike' build whenever I get around to it. The original B73 saddles tend to be costly and worn out. Thanks for the tips!

 

[yoothgeye]

Search Amazon for “vintage leather bicycle saddle” and there are some lower priced saddles that look similar.